By the end of my Fyre Festival experience I knew Miami Airport intimately. Waiting in vain for my flight to the Bahamas I became well acquainted with every gate, every Irish pub and every Pizza Hut. Hours had passed as I waited with festival goers in the departure lounge - there were no announcements, no point of contact - while immaculately dressed millennials glued to their phones were drinking more and growing more apprehensive. Two hours before the festival cancelled, I was being offered lunch with Ja Rule in the Bahamas and a private helicopter tour of the island.

The departure gate, which at first was all jittery excitement, turned to bafflement - phones were firing off SOSes like synapses. All things considered, it wasn't quite what Fyre ostentatiously referred to itself as "the cultural experience of the decade".

Boasting $300,000 (£216,000) packages, Fyre Festival mentioned private jets, luxury yachts and celebrity catered meals as though it was applying for a job as P Diddy's videographer. One $49,999- per-person (£36,000) package, the "Artist's Estate", offered personalised experiences, open bars and resort housing "in the vicinity" of performers. In December 2016, models including Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski and more promoted the event and attracted wanderlust millennials in their droves, though they were merely social media sirens drawing people towards a heavily Instagram-filtered rock.

"It's going to be a disaster," joked a group of girls from California in the airport. This was when the festival seemed to be on track. Then Blink 182 pulled out, which surprisingly affected people more than you'd imagine and signalled the festival was in more trouble than anyone originally thought.

Financial difficulties were reported in early April 2017, when the Wall Street Journal said that Fyre had missed a number of payment deadlines to artists (it's claimed the bands have since been paid). It was noted that festival goers were "nervous, as the festival's 'concierge' team has been slow to provide them with logistical details."

From the outside, Fyre Festival was starting to resemble the Trump administration - a mess: made up of frat boys, who were trying to pull off a house party that outsized them.

Along with many festival goers I never made it to the Exumas. I was told by the PR that it wasn't safe and later all charter flights were cancelled from Miami. Daniella Delgadillo, 21, a fashion stylist from Los Angeles, however did make it there. "My boyfriend and I attended Fyre thinking it'd be the next and way-better Coachella."

'It was the worst experience I have ever endured in my entire life'

Delgadillo told me it was clear no one knew what was happening. They'd arrived at the Bahamas to news that storms had washed out the accommodation, there was a chance they'd be put up in hotels, however in the interim they were taken on a bus to a beach party, which she said was the best part of the trip. However, things took a turn.

"We arrived and people told us they had been stuck at this 'beach party' since 9am. No checked bags. No sunscreen. Not enough food and no idea of when they were getting to the site."

By 5pm, Delgadillo told me they were assured a bus would come and take them to accommodation, although while waiting, "people were drunk and upset. It then became a fight to the death to get into one of these buses. We thought we were finally going to soft, private beds where we could all get some sleep. When we got there it was like a joke. There were cargo freights everywhere, cardboard boxes full of sheets and towels dropped on the side, beds and bed frames just laying around everywhere. It wasn't the private island or beach site we were promised and paid for; it looked like a sewage plant."

They'd paid $1,600 a person (a total of $3,200 for her and her boyfriend). From looking at the online package, Delgadillo expected, "a king bed in what looked like a hut/villa with two chairs and cute décor." The reality was "a wet bed with a single side table, a shelf, no comforter and no pillows." Luggage was also an issue, people were breaking into cargo boxes to get them back and also to find better food, which was unsurprising as Delgadillo was one of the recipients of "the infamous cheese and bread", a sad-looking sandwich, which went viral on social media. The food was supposed to be catered by celebrity chef Stephen Starr, however the Starr Catering Group said in a statement that their agreement with Fyre Festival was terminated on 2 April 2017 (the festival started on 27 April 2017).

Delgadillo's group were told they couldn't get a flight back to the US until the following day, so they slept in wet beds. "Our group of six took beds from abandoned tents and slept all together to feel some sort of security after laying multiple towels down on the beds and making pillows out of sheets and whatever else we could find."

The next day they went to an airport, they paid over $100 for a 15-minute taxi journey, lasting on crisps and no water. Daniella sums it up as "the worst experience I have ever endured in my entire life." She said after the event that she joined in on a class action lawsuit.

Jay Diebel, 31, a photographer from California had a slightly different experience. Only three out of his group of 15 made it to the Exumas. They had originally booked two lodge packages which housed eight people each (it was $12,000 per lodge). "About a week before leaving LA we were informed that 'the lodge' was just a tent. We explained to Fyre that we had a large group and mostly influencers. They then found us a house to stay at." Diebel's VIP upgrade was complimentary, he stayed in a beautiful house, 35 miles from the festival.

His group returned to the festival in the evening for its opening night which promised a BBQ and Bahamian band. Diebel also wanted to get their wristbands, which they topped up with cash before the festival and hadn't yet received - the festival was a cashless event where transactions could only be made through wristbands. Organisers advised people beforehand to top up around $300 to $500 a day at the festival.

"Our driver dropped us at the gate as the Bahamian guards wouldn't let him through. A minivan picked us up crammed in four other kids and drove us to the 'blue house'. On the way there he introduced himself and offered to sell us weed and coke. Nice guy. We drove past hundreds of tents on the way, they didn't look that bad but not all that great either, it made us thankful for our house. Pulling up to blue house, that's when it set in, people everywhere were trying to find their luggage in shipping containers, get their accommodation and wristbands. Everyone was drunk. Fyre staff had been feeding them booze all day to buy time."

They received their wristbands and went to the bar which was "stocked with tequila, whisky, rum and vodka. No beer. The only mixers were Pepsi and margarita mix." Diebel said the stage looked surprisingly nice, where a local Bahamian band was playing, however the festival grounds were minimal, "full of floodlights, work trucks, randomly placed toilets and empty makeshift shacks. The famous 'concierge' shack and others that read 'food'... but nothing in them at all."

On the way back to their house they found out the festival had been cancelled, "people were calling and texting 'you need to get off the island now!'" They stayed overnight in the house, where they felt safe and "watched the #FyreFestival hashtag closely". They were booked on a complimentary charter flight, three days later - however, from the comfort of the house, they had a great time. "We all agreed that we still had an amazing time in such a beautiful place with the nicest locals (give respect, get respect). Bummer about Fyre, bad preparation I guess. All of the contracted workers were very nice and apologetic." Diebel tells me he was happy they went and that "being stuck in the Bahamas was an excellent twist."

Similarly, Mitch Purgason, 25, who sells bespoke clothing in Charlotte, North Carolina, found a silver lining in what others described as Lord Of The Flies with Instagram. He'd managed to make a new group of friends from the experience, after the friends he originally came with got a flight back to the US without telling him, once they found out the festival was cancelled.

Purgason bought a package, like Diebel, called the lodge, however it was for two people for around $2,000 total after all expenses. It was supposed to be a two-bedroom villa with a living area and two king-sized beds. In reality, he ended up "sleeping in a wet bed in a tent that looked like a Stormtrooper helmet."

Organisers delayed festival goers seeing their accommodation, "no organiser could tell me where I was supposed to stay, what tent was mine, why I had a tent instead of the villa I paid for and also what was actually going on", and then drove them to a nearby resort and paid for their breakfast with an open bar. Purgason said he "ate, drank and hung out with awesome people in an exotic place."

The following day the festival was officially cancelled. Out of the chaos Purgason tells me he made lifelong friends and they ended up spending the next couple of days together in Miami. The downside, he said, "we all got food-sick on Saturday after brunch. Not sure whether or not it was a result of the food from the festival or not, but everyone was blowing chunks everywhere."

Those on yachts hardly had any complaints, there wasn't a damp tent in sight. They were a world away from the Castaway scenes that were happening by the festival grounds. Nicholas Galekovic, 32, founder of Beard King, from Miami, paid over $20,000 for his package.

"The captain called us Friday am and told us we should not come and it's a 'shit show'. Luckily, we diverted our route to meet in Nassau on Friday. We then took the boat back to the Exumas and enjoyed the Thunderball Grotto, the wild pigs and snorkelling." They flew privately so didn't have a problem getting back to the US.

'Obviously we were in this bubble because we were with the influencers and the artists'

Patrick Curley, the former cofounder and CEO of Yachtlife, had an exclusive partnership with Fyre Festival. YachtLife was a Fyre Festival vendor, providing yacht accommodations to festival goers and wasn't paid by Fyre Festival, so any customers that requested yacht accommodation were put directly in touch with YachtLife and customers paid them directly. Ticketing and any other items directly related to the Fyre Festival were paid by the customers to Fyre. They started talking in September last year, at that time Fyre Festival organisers were originally thinking that the festival would be at Norman's Cay, Curley says, but they were advised to change the location to the Great Exumas as there was more infrastructure there.

Patrick's highest charter booking was about $150,000 for an 101-foot yacht which had four state rooms, four ensuite bathrooms and a crew of four people - it was chartered for ten days.

"Obviously we were in this bubble because we were with the influencers, with the artists, with the customers who were staying on yachts, which is obviously going to be the customers who are spending a lot more money - so we had a different perspective than some of the other folks," says Curley.

He tells me that people on the yachts had a great time, "I think a lot of people took lemons and made lemonade out of it. One of our customers she was texting with us throughout the weekend saying I love this crew, we just went to the swimming pigs it was amazing. She was inviting us to join her for drinks on her boat. Total sweetheart, very, very nice. As soon as people realised Fyre wasn't happening, at least our customers were saying, you know what, we've got this great yacht, we're here with our friends, let's enjoy the time the time that we have here and everyone had fun."

For many festival goers, getting a plane back to the US proved difficult. Some waiting all day without food and water in the heat and arriving back to Miami in the early hours. No such thing was happening for those with yachts, "getting planes back was not an issue at all. If you don't know who to talk to you, then you're not going to get a plane out, but again it's a very artificial experience for us because we were entrenched in the ultra-luxury space. One of our customers was enquiring about flying out, so we found a private jet for them no problem for $5,500 for six customers. One phone call and in 15 minutes we had a quote. From our perspective we did not find an issue."

A few of the bands who were set to play at Fyre festival found out that it was cancelled upon boarding their flights to Miami. Sergio Muñoz and Israel Sunshine of Fur Coat saw it all kick off on social media as they were boarding from Barcelona. "We were on a flight with seven hours ahead to Miami... if we had known this an hour earlier, we would have just stayed home."

The initial offer of playing a new festival in the Bahamas seemed too good to miss out on. They saw a few names on the lineup (Blink 182, Lee Burridge, Thugfucker) and thought it would be a good idea. However on the day they were set to fly from Barcelona to Miami, and then get their connecting flight to the Exumas, their agent had news that there were problems with Fyre. When they were on the flight they found out it was cancelled, not through the Fyre Festival organisers but through Twitter, Mixmag and finally an official statement that was put out from the festival.

"At that point we were mad cause from what its known this festival got canceled cause things weren't done the right way. From the pictures we saw, it looked not even close to the first day of work to start building up a festival."

The festival overlapped with Afrikaburn, a Burning Man event held in South Africa, and a couple of acts turned down the opportunity to play there for Fyre Festival. Anstascia D'Elene Corniere and Vivie-ann Bakos of Blond:ish were "intrigued" by Fyre Festival, they were booked in December 2016, so put Afrikaburn on hold for another year. They ended up flying from Bali to Nassau, via Tokyo, to get there. In Tokyo messages were coming through about Fyre's cancellation, "it was quite an explosive day for the Internet especially Twitter... there were some hilarious comments out there, which made us giggle but it was mostly just a giant unfortunate situation for everyone involved". They've been paid by the organisers, who haven't been in touch since, as Blond:ish puts it, "I'm sure they have their hands full right now."

'Everyone I know got to know about this festival. It's crazy'

Another act who turned down Afrikaburn for Fyre Festival was Beto Abrahão, a DJ who was booked to play every night at Fyre Festival. He was known by the organisers for his roster of wealthy clients. They started having conversations in September last year, when Abrahão went to New York to play a private event, he was invited to the headquarters by Fyre festival's talent director, Ian Browne - Abrahão knew Browne previously as he DJ'ed at his brother's wedding in Ibiza. At the headquarters he met Ja Rule and Samuel Krost, who was booking acts for the festival. Abrahão was a resident DJ at the Pacha group in Ibiza and now does private events. Because of that he meets "lots of very wealthy people, interesting, cool people and they [Fyre] know that and although it was a public festival, they were really interested in bringing this very high-profile international crowd that doesn't normally go to Pacha or to public places, they just do their own private events." Abrahão tells me he's DJ'ed for royalty, like the Prince of Abu Dhabi and the princes of Luxembourg, along with wealthy clients from Europe "who are just very low key they don't like to be exposed and they are really, really cool people. I have a very personal contact with these people because of my work and then they wanted me to bring this crowd to the festival because it would the first place where very wealthy people would be able to join a public festival where they could have the same standards of comfort and security and safeness that they have in their private events."

None of his friends planned on staying in tents, obviously. They were all in their own yachts and villas. It wasn't all bad for Beto, he was staying at his friend's villa in Nassau, in the Bahamas, and was then booked to play at a closed community called Albany, which Beto tells me is for the ultra wealthy. While DJ'ing, he tells me "everyone there was talking about Fyre Festival". It became like the Oscars slip-up. An unprecedented cock-up that became perfect fodder for a social media whirlwind.

Up until the festival's cancellation, Abrahão was under the impression the festival was on track. He received messages from his girlfriend, who was supposed to join him in the Exumas. She knew people at the festival and sent Abrahão messages advising not to go as it was "a shit show", a phrase I hear multiple times when speaking to people.

Abrahão wasn't that worried, "Sometimes you are working with people that you still don't know really well so I had a back-up plan to stay in my friend's boat which was anchored in the marina in the island of the festival. It was a big shock and I honestly have no complaints from my side, because I actually got my full payment that was paid up front and everything was done by the book." Although, he adds "it was really awkward that I arrived there like one day before and everything is fine, they don't mention anything, your hotel is booked, your charter is booked, your driver is booked everything is fine you're DJ'ing at 2pm on Saturday and then my girlfriend's sending the other side of the story."

It finally sank in for Beto when he went to the festival grounds a week later, "there was basically nothing much there, but we were just so surprised by the lack of infrastructure of the place. It's a stunning place, it's ridiculous, it's like out of a movie, but anything you do there you have to build from zero. I heard from people who have houses there how difficult it was for them to build them, they built everything themselves - imagine yourself doing a festival for five or 6,000 people - so I just thought it was a bit insane, you know."

Since the festival's cancellation, Billy McFarland, the founder and CEO of Fyre Festival was arrested by federal agents at his home in Manhattan in June 2017 and charged with one count of wire fraud. On Tuesday 6 March 2018, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges, agreeing to serve up to a decade in prison for lying to investors and sending false documents.

Last year Fyre Festival turned into a social media phenomenon, standing as a legacy for all things sub-par. Social media bios were updated to "Fyre Festival survivor" and merchandise was sold on Ebay. A Fyre Festival wristband on sale for $54 comes with the description, "selling my Fyre Festival items to raise money for an actual real vacation, nowhere near a beach, a festival or the words 'luxury' or 'elevated' in the title".

Fyre became an event which masked itself in highly saturated filters, with the hope that no one would notice what lurked beneath and became a strong lesson to all future festivals that Instagram can't be brought to life, as the social media platform is pure fantasy. As Abrahão puts it, "Everyone I know got to know about this festival. It's crazy."

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